Elephants
by Yuxi
Summary: (AxL)Yes, an AthrunLacus fic. Leave it to Athrun to turn getting shot into a good thing...


**Disclaimer: **I disclaim it all!

**Author's Notes: **Ha…waddya noe? My first GS fic! I never thought I'd venture into this area…anyway…I am a huge, HUGE AxL fan, so if u don't like it, don't flame just cuz its my preference. In other words, yes, I do HATE AxC and dislike KxL. So sue me. Actually, don't do that, but don't flame either. I can live with the other pairings, so u can live with this one. So…if u do read it, review!

**Warnings: **Heh…I always have warnings…so…many a few not so innocent words here and there but nothing that'll scar u for life.

_

* * *

Change my mind,__  
Won't get lost if your passion's true.__  
I'm gonna fly with you again,__  
So you can spread your wings,__  
And you will fly with me away,__  
It's Wonderland._

* * *

It had been a normal day too…

She had been preparing for a concert and as things go, she wasn't allowed to say anything for the whole day. So they just gave her a little chalkboard and a piece of chalk and write down anything she wanted, or make a fool of herself by making strange hand gestures.

They didn't give her any chocolate because that usually builds up phlegm or something and she'd probably end up coughing and hacking into her microphone in the middle of a song. All they gave her was fruits and water.

Fruits and water!

But Lacus didn't mind this much…after everything that had happened, she was glad that most people she cared for were safe and that she still _had_ a career.

After changing into this ridiculously complicated dress that restricted her movement to almost nothing, Lacus was mainly focused on breathing.

She was a skinny girl, but if people really made dresses this tight, she really didn't want to know what people were doing to themselves to fit into them.

About 10 minutes before curtains, a crazed fan somehow found himself past security and practically smothered her.

Lacus wasn't offended or frightened by it; it was in her nature to be friendly and happy. So when he asked for her to marry him, she opened her mouth to kindly decline.

Before she knew it, someone had clamped her mouth shut and started lecturing her on how it was bad to waste her voice and someone else had grabbed the lunatic and dragged him away kicking and screaming. He was threatening them all to make them pay for…

Something.

Anyway, flustered by the whole encounter, she was dazed when the curtains opened and she stepped on stage.

Lacus saw in the corner of her eye that a few security personnel were dragging the man out. Poor guy…

* * *

Meanwhile, Athrun was calmly starting a cold sweat as he swerved in and out of traffic. He had promised to himself that he would actually make one of her concerts ON TIME unlike every other day and he had about 3 minutes to make it there.

Combined with the confusion of his heart on his feelings towards Lacus and Cagalli, Athrun was in a very sour mood.

He had tried being engaged to Lacus, but it was an arranged marriage, making everything all stiff and uncomfortable. She was beautiful, god she was gorgeous, but he didn't know if they could really last forever.

And then came Cagalli, who was less dazzling but he had this instant attraction to her that made everything that much more complicated.

Because everytime he was with Lacus, his mind would wander to Cagalli. And everytime he saw Lacus with Kira, his body would be paralyzed with this intense jealousy he had no place for.

He couldn't keep doing this! Who did he really love?

After his engagement to Lacus was basically voided, she and Kira had gotten so much closer. He had gotten closer to Cagalli as well…

But just that morning, Cagalli had told him she was seeing somebody.

He hadn't felt that insane burst of jealousy he normally felt when he saw Lacus with Kira. And…he really did care for Lacus a lot…

But…Lacus was with Kira now! He had missed his chance, and nobody thought he was worthy enough of Lacus anyway!

It was so complicated and frustrating!

Fuelling his anger into urgency, Athrun rammed the gas pedal and sped off towards the concert.

* * *

"Thank you all for coming!" Lacus said with a brilliant smile and waved to the over-ecstatic crowd. She may have been labeled a traitor, but she was still the star to most of the coordinators.

Just as she was about to start singing, she saw Athrun come bursting in backstage and watched him pant before waving to her.

She imagined he must have run all the way from the parking lot to the building.

Her heart sped up considerably just looking at him smile and she felt all fuzzy inside knowing he came all this way from his meeting just to watch her sing. She felt 16 again.

"I'm 18…I'm 18…" She muttered to herself while trying not to blush, "I'm an adult, I can handle him being here without tripping over my own tongue…"

It made her sad that she was still so caught up on him even when she knew he loved Cagalli. When he had said their engagement was over, she had smiled at him and told him everything was fine. Then she had gone back to her room and cried herself to sleep, not even knowing why.

Their engagement was for political reasons, nothing more. If they happened to like each other, all the better. But when she had met Kira and Athrun had met Cagalli, it was as if that chapter of the story ended before it even had a chance to start.

She would be lying if she said she wasn't jealous of the blond girl…

Shaking herself free from all these depressing thoughts, Lacus smiled back at Athrun and turned to sing.

She had a song plan to follow, but screw that. She would sing what she felt.

* * *

Athrun was surprised to say the least when Lacus started singing a random song nowhere in the program. But that didn't really matter too much to him…she was beautiful whether she was singing or sleeping.

Not to mention caring, kind, thoughtful, considerate…

And every other synonym for perfect.

Well, good day turned to bad in a matter of seconds.

He was just enjoying her song when he suddenly saw a man pushing through the crowd towards the stage with a few bodyguards chasing after him.

He didn't even think when the guy pulled out a gun and pointed it at Lacus.

All he knew was that she was in danger, and he'd be damned if he watched her get hurt.

* * *

Mr. Chief of Bodyguards didn't even see it coming. One second, they were dragging a lunatic away from the theatre. The next, he had somehow driven his elbow into another bodyguard's crotch and made a run for it.

They had all acted immediately and chased after the guy, but he was that much faster.

The next thing they knew, the lunatic had whipped out a gun. How he had managed to smuggle it in past security the first time was beyond anybody.

Time slowed as people surrounding the area realized what was happening. And everybody watched in horror as the gun went off and a bullet went straight for their idol's head.

* * *

Lacus didn't even have time to register what was happening. All of a sudden, she heard Athrun shout and turned around in time to see him push her.

Then she watched with uncomprehending eyes as his body jerked back violently and a spray of his blood splattered the floor.

It wasn't real. He had been fine a minute ago, smiling at her. She didn't even spare a glance into the crowd when a few shots went off.

All she knew was that Athrun had most likely saved her…

The love of her life was dying in a pool of blood.

And she broke.

* * *

Athrun was grimacing and trying to force air back into his lungs as his shoulder exploded in pain.

He was so, so, so lucky…well, depending on how you looked at it. At least the bullet hadn't hit anything vital…

But he was losing a lot of blood fast. Within seconds, his vision blurred and the pain dulled to a throb.

Eh…losing consciousness…not good…must stay awake…

The last thing he saw was Lacus running to him and collapsing on her knees. Tears had started to flow down her pale cheeks and he felt her warm hands cupping his face.

He watched as her lips formed his name over and over again…he imagined she must have been calling him.

Too bad he couldn't hear it.

* * *

"Lacus, this isn't your fault…"

Kira sighed as he watched Lacus sitting at Athrun's side and not even bothering to pretend to have heard Cagalli.

"Lacus," Kira tried gently, "You really need to eat or drink something. Athrun'll be fine if you leave for 5 minutes; it's only a flesh wound."

Lacus gave him a soft smile. "Men…" She muttered, "If you're not dead, it's always just a flesh wound."

Cagalli sighed as the pink haired girl returned to staring impassively at Athrun's unconscious form.

Athrun was fine. The bullet has made its way through his shoulder and he had lost some blood, but he was going to be fine. Cagalli imagined that Lacus was just feeling horribly guilty that Athrun had eaten a bullet on her behalf.

Before Kira could try any more convincing, Cagalli had grabbed his hand and dragged her brother outside.

"We need to drug her."

Kira blinked at her in surprise and was about to say something when she held up her hand.

"You know just as well as I do that she can't keep doing this. She's had like 2 glasses of water in the past 3 days. If this keeps up, she'll be dead by the time he wakes up. And then he'll probably shoot himself if he sees her dead. It'll be like Romeo and Juliet."

Kira sighed as Cagalli turned the situation into something laughable. But he had to agree…Lacus couldn't keep doing his to herself.

"All right," He said as they made their way down to the nurse's station, "We'll drug her. But if anybody asks, I'm telling them it was all your idea."

* * *

Lacus was grateful when Kira and Cagalli brought her a glass of water. She wasn't hungry or thirsty, but it was the thought that counted.

She felt so horrible…Athrun got hurt because he had been trying to protect her. She almost burst into tears again.

Lacus quickly drank the glass of water so she could continue moping, until her eyelids started drooping.

So…tired…

Then she looked over to Cagalli and saw with an inner sigh that Kira had a look of relief of his face.

Damn it…what a horrible time to be drugged…

* * *

"Ungh…" Athrun muttered as he awoke to Kira's amused face.

"Time…location…" Athrun muttered unhappily as he felt a dull throb start in his shoulder.

"You're in the hospital." Kira said with a smile, "And you've been out for four days."

Then added, "You're such a princess, Athrun. Get shot in the shoulder and get knocked out for four days."

"I resent that!" Cagalli scowled at him and punched him in the arm.

"Where's Lacus?" Athrun asked as he remembered what happened. Panic worked its way through his body. "Is she ok?"

"She's fine, Romeo." Cagalli said with a roll of they eyes, "We drugged her and took her home."

Athrun looked at her sharply. "What do you mean by drugged?"

Kira laughed nervously and had the uncomfortable notion that Athrun could still do much bodily harm even with only one arm.

"She wasn't eating or sleeping." Kira explained gently, and glared at Cagalli for her blunt approach.

"So we decided to give her a tranquilizer and take her home or she was going to kill herself waiting at your bedside." Cagalli added with a smirk.

"Oh…" Athrun muttered. Now he felt bad for making Lacus worry.

Throwing off his covers, he got up to leave. Then Kira and Cagalli both voiced their objections by pushing him back down.

"You're not going anywhere." They lectured at him, "You still need time to rest, and you don't need to worry about Lacus worrying because we gave her enough tranquilizer to knock out an elephan-"

"I really would appreciate if you didn't try to kill me."

They all turned around to see Lacus standing at the door with quite the murderous look in her eyes.

"But…how…wha…" Kira and Cagalli sputtered as they watched Lacus stalk past them and sit next to Athrun on the bed.

"You can drug me all you want but you can't stop me from worrying about him." She said quite blankly.

Athrun looked at Lacus' face in mild surprise at how unhappy she was. Was she so worried about him that she actually cancelled out the drugs with distress?

Kira, taking this as a nice cue to get the hell out of there, smiled and yanked Cagalli out of the room. He liked his head where it was, thank you very much.

Sighing tiredly, Lacus turned to Athrun with a weak smile.

"Are you ok?" She asked him softly and he nodded, feeling blood starting to pool in his cheeks. Damn it all…he felt like a kid talking to a really pretty girl.

The look in her eyes as she brought her hand up to his face was all it took for him to figure out how he really felt. He was so hopelessly in love with the girl that it actually blinded him from the truth.

"You know…"He whispered to her, "I'm glad I got shot."

Oh…that came out so wrong.

She gave him a strange look. "What?" She asked with a light laugh.

"I mean," He said closing his eyes and wondering why he couldn't form intelligent sentences in his head anymore, "I'm glad that you aren't hurt."

"And," He added, knowing this was probably the best time to tell her, "I have something to ask you."

Lacus tilted her head in question.

"Marry me."

He could see surprise and confusion written all over her face.

"But…Athrun…" She breathed, not daring to hope anything, "First of all, that's not a question…and…you…and Cagalli…and…we already tried being engaged and everything! And besides, it wouldn't do anything to help any politi-"

He stopped her ranting by softly capturing her lips in his own.

He felt her tense and for a split second, was terrified that she would break away, but then she relaxed into him and brought her arms around his neck.

Oh the mushiness of it all…

"I need you to marry me," He whispered, as they finally broke apart, "Because I am so impossibly in love with you that if I ever lose you again, I'd probably have to kill myself."

Lacus felt herself blush. "What do you mean, _again_?" She asked.

"Well," Athrun said uncomfortably, "You know. You kept telling me how you liked Kira…and, and, er, you know…"

Lacus sighed. "Stupid…Kira and I are just friends." Then she blinked. "Exactly…we're just friends! Athrun, you're so stupid! Don't you know I love you yet? Blind…"

She was practically muttering to herself by then.

"Um…sorry?" He asked her with a light smile.

Lacus shook her head as Athrun decided to be irresistibly irresistible by acting cute. "Yea, you better be."

Then she leaned in again and kissed him, making up for all the time lost when they were both too blind to see what was right in front of them.

"We're going to have really good looking kids." Athrun said randomly out of the blue, and Lacus shook her head, got up, and walked away.

"What?" He asked laughing lightly, "What did I say?"

"Ruin a perfectly good moment!" She called back to him and walked out the door.

But it was ok…Juliet had finally found her Romeo.

...And they really did have good looking kids...

((( **The End **)))

Ehehehe…this was so utterly stupid and plot-less and it didn't even make half the sense I wanted it to, but that's ok cuz its an Athrun/lacus fic! And im just fine with that!

Review!


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